I had a meeting with our A.D. on Friday and left it feeling disappointed. Namely, because I wasn't able to clearly articulate what I'm still having trouble with regarding my new responsibilities. I went to the meeting confident because I had outlined, A.) job priorities which I believe need to be addressed as I start my new position and B.) the training I still need to do in order to accomplish A.
Needless to say, I don't think we went over A, much less B, in the course of the hour I was in the office. In most ways, this is my own fault. I should have been clearer when I scheduled the meeting. I wanted this time to clarify issues with administration regarding my roles and responsibilities come August. For example, I have a list of priorities that I think need to be done when I first start the job (user profiles and assessment of what our users want and need; a thorough collection analysis; a new CD policy, etc.). B. was the list of training I need in order to do this (determine local procedures for acquisitions, figure out reporting methods and retrieval, survey & profile faculty, etc.). All we talked about were the A.D's ideas for a new acquisitions workflow with IDS. This is going to be a collaboration between C.D. and IDS, but is not actually my workflow to implement, so I was a bit disappointed that we focused so much time and energy on this discussion. I did try to bring the conversation back to my concerns, but was stymied by my lack of vocabulary (as I don't feel savvy or confident yet in the jargon or terminology of my new position) to pull us back. I know its mostly the both of us fumbling our way through a mountain of changes in the library (the A.D. being practically brand-new too, only here since January), but I had hoped for a more mentor-like and "what can I help you with" approach to my situation.
Some things I learned...
- When scheduling meetings, be clear about the purpose of the time scheduled
- Be assertive!! If it is your meeting, be upfront about your need for the parties to keep the discussion on track
- Bring an outline of your needs (I did this and brought it with me, and even brought it up at one point, but we still got sidetracked)
- Ask for some goals or even state what goals you would like to accomplish and ask for a timeframe
As with all things, practice will make perfect (or as close to it as one can hope to get!).
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